Vintage Dolls

German Dancing Doll

I have been restoring and making Teddy Bears over the years and have never had a great deal of interest in dolls.
Even as a child I preferred my soft toys - a bear called Cuddly, a hand knitted Golly called Kakey (no idea where I got his name from) and a leather Camel that came from a School Fair Bric a Brac Stall.  Then there was my big sister's toys - Jock, a faded blue dog with no ears, another terrier type dog with no name and a little bear that I now know is a Merrythought Baby Bingie.
Of these toys I still have my Cuddly and my sister still has her Bingie (despite my attempts to steal him as I have always wanted him).  She did mention selling him :o recently so I may just give him a home if it comes to that.
I have no idea what became of the Camel, or the dogs, but was told that the Golly got the moths and was thrown away :(

Pair of National Dress Dolls
(any clue to the Country welcome)

Anyway, back to the dolls - I have purchased one or two over the last few months and find myself drawn more to the 1950's ones (as I am with bears), I suppose because that is the era when I was a child.


Eskimo and Dutch Girl

These dolls are available in my Etsy shop - www.etsy.com/shop/pollysvintagebears

I have recently aquired a box of miniature German dolls ranging from 3" to 6".  I am very excited to start sorting these out and cannot decide whether to dress them or to leave them in the buff.
I'm not sure if I could find knitting patterns for a baby doll as small as 3".  The 6" ones would be no problem though.
I love miniature things.  One of my ambitions is to own a large dolls house.  It must be great fun to furnish one as there are so many lovely miniature items that can be bought for them.  I have even seen a set of false teeth in a tumbler in dolls house size!  These items used to fascinate me when I used to do a lot of Bear Fairs in the 1990's.  The fairs were often Dolls, Teddies and Doll's House Miniatures all rolled into one.







The only miniatures I have in my Etsy shop at the moment are these flocked bears.  There are 5 different sets available.  They would be small enough to go in the Nursery of a doll's house.











Diddy Dogs

I wanted to do a bit of knitting, so set about looking for something that I would enjoy doing.
Being predominately a toy maker, I thought I would like to make little dogs or cats.
I came across a vintage pattern that gave me the basics and set about designing the Diddy Dogs.
The first prototype was ok, but not to my liking - the head looked too small for the body, the nose was too flat (non-exsistant really) and I wasn't happy with the nose stitching.
Here is Mark I

Diddy Dog No Nose

I started knitting the next one - blue and yellow stripes, making the head a bit larger.  As I was knitting and kept looking over to this one I realised  all that I had to do was make a little knitted nose for him.  I did so, put a bit of stuffing in, restitched his nose and mouth and 'Hey Presto' his head immediately looked in proportion to his body and I am now happy with him.
Here is Mark II.  He looks better don't you think?


Blue and White Diddy Dog



4" of cuteness

I can't believe how different this small addition has made him look. 
Everything is firmly stitched in place, including his knitted collar and he is stitched together with a strong back stitch.  His eyes are embroidered too, so there are no plastic or sharp bits to come adrift.
I will now get busy knitting various colour combinations in the hope that they will be popular at the Christmas craft fair in a couple of weeks time.  I would like to get at least a dozen made by then.